In modern hybrid and electric motor vehicles, lithium-ion batteries are often used as rechargeable energy stores. A battery which is optimized with regard to lifespan and maximum energy storage capacity requires a correspondingly efficient cooling system for the individual battery cells, which is able to prevent a heating of the battery beyond a maximum operating temperature.
Against this background, cooling systems are known from the prior art, which permit a heat exchange between the battery and the cooling plates by means of two cooling plates, constructed in the manner of half shells which, in a state fastened to one another, form a coolant duct for a coolant, wherein the evaporation enthalpy necessary for the evaporation of the liquid coolant is withdrawn from the battery in the form of heat. If a solely single-phase coolant, present in only liquid form, is used, the said heat exchange can then be assisted by thermoelectric elements, for instance in the form of so-called Peltier elements, which are arranged at defined locations between the battery which is to be cooled and the cooling plates.
Against this background, EP 1 271 085 A2 concerns a cooling device for cooling a vehicle battery by means of a coolant. The said cooling device comprises a plurality of cooling elements of uniform construction, able to be flowed through by the coolant and able to be brought into abutting contact with the battery which is to be cooled, which cooling elements have a first cooling element side and a second cooling element side lying opposite thereto. The cooling element sides have connection openings, which form inlet or respectively outlet openings for the coolant and are connected in a communicating manner with the interior of the cooling element.
GB 2 063 450 describes a similar cooling device in the form of a plate heat exchanger, in which a plurality of cooling plates are stacked onto one another along a stacking direction. To improve the heat exchange, depressions can be provided in the individual cooling plates.